Motivation Daily by Motiversity - QUIT ALCOHOL IN 2024 - One of The Most Eye Opening Motivational Episodes Ever

Episode Date: January 9, 2024

Countless people including Jordan Peterson, Macklemore, Patrick Bet- David, and others explain why you need to not touch alcohol."At least one in ten Americans meet the criteria for either alcohol abuse or alcohol dependence; which we now call 'alcohol use disorder'."Special thanks to our partners and to these channels, subscribe to them here:https://www.youtube.com/@JordanBPetersonhttps://www.youtube.com/@VALUETAINMENT  https://www.youtube.com/@TheDiaryOfACEO  Special thanks to Craig de Silva: https://www.craigdesilva.com/Music:Epidemic Sound▶Subscribe for New Motivational Videos Every Week:http://bit.ly/MotivationVids▶DOWNLOAD our Top 100 Quotes of All Time:https://bit.ly/topquotesfreepdf▶JOIN our Newsletter for Exclusive Updates, Discounts, and Deals: https://bit.ly/Motiversitynewsletter▶READ our Weekly Blog -https://bit.ly/motiversityblog▶SHOP Official Motivational Canvases and Apparel -https://bit.ly/motiversityshop▶BECOME A MEMBER of our loyal community!https://bit.ly/motiversitymembersSpecial thanks to one of today's sponsors, TIAA. Find out more about Paper Right here: https://retireinequality.com/paperright/ Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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The link is in the description. Just stopping is almost impossible. You need to figure out something that's more important to you than drinking. And also think through very hard the negative consequences of continuing it. You had to let a lot of you die when you stop being an addict and something new be reborn. If you have big ambitions, you want to do something big with your life, stay the hell away from drugs and You see, I didn't know back then that alcohol is the second most addictive drug on planet Earth. A crazy first time drinking alcohol that never stopped for me.

Alcohol is the most harmful drug on planet Earth. You see, if alcohol was invented now, it would be banned as a substance. Alcohol is the deadliest drug known to mankind, killing three million people every year. it seeps into every aspect of our society. Why, though, have we allowed alcohol to have such a strong influence over our thoughts, behaviors, and actions? Maybe we are predisposed. It's a combination, I don't know, but I do see that a lot of people are trying to escape.

But overall, they have to be in enough pain that they want to change. The overall risk of liquor outweighs any known benefits. He says, alcoholics, we want to see one. piece of the puzzle and see the entire picture. It doesn't work that way. When we get addicted to drugs and alcohol and we have demons, they can tend to bring out the worst in us, make us do things we never thought we'd do. I was going to alcohol as my way to either escape, to feel better, to feel confident, feel good about myself. I think I'm probably in my 30s in terms of how many people I know that have died from the disease of addiction. Friday night at 5 p.m., the wine

bottle would be opened. I started really hating who I was. And for the first time in my life, I knew that drunk Julie was too powerful, that I couldn't control her and I needed help. Alcohol can kill people. And I was super close. I think there's a good chance I could be dead. Yeah, I'd be dead. Why does society encourage us to drink? Perhaps it is because many find a false sense of confidence in intoxication, leading to easier but less fulfilling social obligations. Perhaps it is because the numbness provides distraction. Perhaps it is because alcohol is a $1,600 billion industry worldwide.

Many people fuel this industry, but few are awakened to the reality of alcohol. What would happen in your life if your negative habits got out of control? And one of the things that can really help you control your alcohol intake is to really, really think through what you're giving up and where you could be in five years if you don't get. under control. And proclivity to alcoholism can be a really vicious thing. You know, lots of people get dragged down into the mud by alcohol, excess alcohol intake, especially if they're sensitive to the opiate response that alcohol can produce. You could tell that if when you drink, you know, you get alert and, let's say, more enthusiastic and energetic, and then you don't want to

stop drinking. That's definitely a bad sign with regards to developing alcoholism. So I would say you need to figure out something that's more important to you than drinking. And also think through very hard the negative consequences of continuing it. I have performed psychological sacrifices, you know, I suppose, when I decided to give up something that I needed to give up so that I could move forward into the future. That certainly happened when I quit smoking and when I more or less quit drinking. And that was a sacrifice. I couldn't continue to drink. Again, I said I was from Northern Alberta.

It was a pretty hard drinking culture, and I really liked alcohol, but I couldn't drink and write and do my PhD and manage my family responsibilities. It was too much, and so I stopped, and that was a good thing. So that was a sacrifice. Alcohol depresses the central nervous system, slowing down brain activity and leading to a sense of relaxation and impaired coordination. At the same time, it inhibits certain neurotransmitters, causing further cognitive impairment. impairment and slurred speech. The combination of these effects results in intoxication, including impaired judgment,

reduced motor skills, and altered behavior. Every time I did drugs, every time I got drunk, every time I got messed up, I didn't have a bad time. But every time I had the worst night in my life, I was high or I was drunk or I was messed up.

So it's not like every time you do something, you ruin your life. But every time you ruin your life, you're on some shit. I would see God. start doing stupid things. And I'd be like, they're doing this on purpose because they're giving themselves an out

because it's an incredibly hard thing to be like, I didn't make it because I just wasn't good enough. But now to be able to be like, oh man, if I just stopped drinking. And then you give yourself that little bit of out that it wasn't me. You talk about that awkward, being socially anxious.

You talk about like a guy who goes to a bar, there's a kid who goes to a bar. I can't talk to a girl. I don't have the confidence unless I'm drunk, unless I'm high. And it's like a socially, acceptable way to break that ice. They're not hooked on whiskey. They're hooked on that culture because that's how they identify being able to get in. You know, so like when you talk to kids and when you have

these conversations, it's not about like, don't do it or else. It's like, dude, you have to figure out a way to be confident in yourself and take care of your spiritual and your mental well-being so you're not susceptible to these things. You know, for so many of us, I think that there's this notion of just stop. Why don't they just stop? Why are they? they hurting themselves? How could they do this to me? We make it about us, right? Like, how could they do this to me? How could they lie to me? How could they go out and say that they were going to quit and then keep going? Why don't they see who they turn into? Just stop. Just stopping doesn't work. There needs to be a support system for the attic. We need 12-step

meetings. We need therapy. We need, you know, to evaluate our mental health. We need to work the steps. We need a sponsor. We need a community of people that share our very same struggle so we can see ourselves and experience the therapeutic value of one addict helping another. That is our piece. But until we get there, just stopping is almost impossible. I described this moment where we had kind of like an intervention being my best friend. And it was really a day we met on a Sunday in an office after the Saturday before he'd got very, very drunk and caused a lot of problems with team members. It was a surrendering the day after. And you used that word before.

Yeah. We met in the office and it was the first time I came with anger. And it was the first time he told me how he felt. And he cried in front of me. And then my anger immediately evaporates because it's the first time I've heard that this individual is suffering with something. And there's a pain and that was the day. He became sober, went to therapy, went on that journey. and he's been so before eight years since then.

But it was that surrendering moment. It was that like him reaching out and saying like, I need help and me actually like listening. Yes. You see him for what he is in that moment, which is hurting, which is an immense pain. He doesn't want to be like that. He feels the guilt and shame of his actions.

He's tried to start and stop and go back and forth and thinks that, okay, maybe it's just heart alcohol or dark alcohol. or maybe it's beer, maybe it's the combination of this. He's tried everything. And he's hurting and he doesn't know how to stop. He doesn't have the tools. And I think that that surrender that you talk about is one of the most beautiful moments for an addict or an alcoholic is like waving the white flag. We think about surrender as a weakness, right? Like you don't surrender. You keep fighting. You keep going. No. With this disease, the greatest thing that we can do is surrender is to snitch on ourselves, is to wave that white flag, is to let other people. know that we are struggling on our own internally, that this is something is broken and I have no idea how to get out of this. And what did that do when he was able to be human to you? You were like, okay, now I can come from a place of love because I'm pissed off about what you did last night. And I'm pissed off that you've done X, Y, and Z and that we've had this conversation or whatever

the situation is. And you know, you ask what can you do as a 25 year old friend of coming from a place to love. And I think compassion. And even if it's not, you know, empathy isn't possible because that's not what you're going through. I think that that compassion is, is what makes people feel they actually care about me. It's not just like I'm pissing them off, but they actually care. Just kind of like letting go of our own expectations of people and meeting them where they're at is always, you know, the best place to show up from. When was your moment of surrender? God, I've had many. I think my biggest moment of surrender, I was 25 or 26 years old.

All the happiness, any serotonin was gone. It was one of those moments of, I remember walking outside, and it was summertime in Seattle, which is the most beautiful place in the world in the summer. And I remember walking outside. I'm a tank top, and I'm like, you know, I just started bawling being outside, because I couldn't feel any sort of happiness.

It was gone. It was like it had evaporated. And I didn't really want to be here anymore. Like there was that moment. It was like there was no real suicidal ideation or plan. But it was just this like, maybe this world's not for me because I don't know what I'm doing here anymore. I feel nothing except deep, deep grief and the obsession to get more.

And it was shortly after that, I went to a family function and I'm trying to, you know, piece it together and just be presentable and just get through it. And my dad pulled me aside and I think my mom had asked him to talk to me. You know, we didn't grow up having too many heart to hearts. It was mostly with my mom. But my mom, I think, urged him to do it. He pulled me aside and just asked me, are you happy? That was my surrender moment. I couldn't lie to him.

Couldn't lie to myself. it was a very clear answer of absolutely not. I am so broken. I don't even know what happy is anymore. And he asked me to go to rehab.